Well, the Fireside Chat I wrote a couple of days ago did, among other things, criticize our affiliate Zelda Informer for their lack of forum integration. The idea of forum integration is that the forums of a site either strongly resembles or is identical to the front page of the site, providing uniformity of visitation, as well as ease of navigation between the two to create the feeling of a truly unified website. Zelda Informer lacked this severely, and now, just two days later, they’ve changed this. They now display a forum layout that strongly resembles their front page, with convenient links all along the top for ease of navigation. Not perfect integration, but hey, it gets the job done and it looks very sleek and well done. Good job guys. You no longer suck.

To comment on this, as well as see how awesome our forum integration is, be sure to visit the forums. Express your opinion wherever you are and keep up to date with the latest here at LoZ by becoming a fan on Facebook.

Last week, Chance introduced a new Editorial here at LoZ by AlphaBlue-09, called “Is Ain’t and Ought” and today I have for you a new edition! This week, AlphaBlue talks about the hero of the Zelda series, or as he puts it, “fairy boys.” Curious what else he has to say? Go on and check it out!

To discuss the implications of what AlphaBlue has said, be sure to head on over to the Forums and get involved! Keep up with the latest at LoZ by becoming a Fan on Facebook. See you around!

In the last Fireside Chat, I talked about Zelda Dungeon and Zelda Informer in particular. Since then, Zelda Dungeon reached 1,000 Fans on Facebook, and Zelda Informer responded to the Fireside Chat on their site. For the most part, their interpretations of what I said were correct. However, I never intended to suggest that the layout for Zelda Informer is “terrible”. Rather, I was saying that their layout is good, and despite its gambles, far worse layouts have been successful, and the sites that utilized them are still around to tell the tales. By saying that, I was saying that no matter what’s wrong with ZI’s new layout, they are very likely to see success.

To those who have been commenting on the Forums saying how you don’t follow community happenings, to you I say, “Shame!” To help keep up with the other sites, you can see all their newsfeeds here. Be sure to comment on the forums, and become a Fan on Facebook!

It’s been quite a while since my last Fireside Chat, and there is actually quite a bit of information to divulge. Firstly, I’ll begin with a bit of light-hearted news by saying that we are officially affiliated with the Hidden Triforce, listed as “Legend Zelda” on our affiliates list. This marks the official end of a three month stand off of sorts between us and them due to a disagreement over some posted content. Rest assured, however, that this relationship is founded on renewed hope for a better friendship than last time. We are pleased to welcome them back to our list of Affiliates.

However, the meat of this Fireside Chat is, of course, about my very frank opinions of the going ons of the rest of the Zelda community. Just to summarize, I will be talking about: Zelda Dungeon’s revamped forums, Zelda Informer’s new layout, and the community at large.

[read the full story]

That’s right everyone, we have finally hit 400 fans on Facebook! This is quite the achievement for us, as it is another milestone in our history. We have over four hundred people who like this site so much that they are willing to attach themselves to it on Facebook. Thank you to all of our dedicated visitors.

Not a fan on Facebook yet? The link is at the top! Check us out. We use the Facebook page to make various updates about the site, as well as to stay connected when we aren’t on the forums. Not a member of the forums? It’s free, and best of all, it’s fun! Be sure to sign up!

The club DeviantArt account we have has gone through some major updates recently. We’ve had issues with our site gallery before which has left me unable to maintain our little vision for sharing art with our site and DeviantArt community. With the addition of clubs though this has enabled me to start a much more efficient group account. I have taken the liberty to make a little FAQ which I think still needs updating but feel free to have a browse if you need some help as to how to contribute artwork.

The beauty of this is you don’t have to submit art to me directly or other site staff anymore (unless you want to share art there and you’re hell bent on not signing up to DeviantArt!). So for members and non-members alike, please take the time to have a quick browse on what we have on there so far. For artists who want to share their work I would like to encourage you to sign up if I haven’t already sent you an invite. We hope youll enjoy the shared artworks of two large communities! Site staff members need to speak to me about turning their DA accounts into admin accounts.

Our affiliate Zelda Informer has undergone a layout change today! Their layout is brand spankin’ new, and it looks hawt. They have reorganized vast portions of their site, and it’s well worth your attention. I currently am about to go to work, so I don’t have time to write my in-depth analysis of what this substantial change means for their site (and I assure you, just from my cursory glances to the front page tell me a lot is different, not the least of which is their name) and the community as a whole. Perhaps another Fireside Chat is in the works? Stay tuned!

Be sure to comment on the forums and to become a Fan on Facebook.

Man, ZU is just making the front page all the time these days here! I promise, I won’t mention them again for at least another 24 hours after this post. Anyways, today Zelda Universe is celebrating their 9th anniversary of being online! Pretty cool, eh? Happy Birthday to you guys over at ZU, and may your following year be as lucrative as past years.

After paying a quick visit to ZU, be sure to check out our forums and become a fan on Facebook!

Yes indeed, they do strike back, in the form of our affiliate Zelda Universe. How, you ask? Why, they won the DSi LX! That’s right, those pootards took for themselves what should have been used for the purposes of LoZ.com! I mean, one of you lucky viewers might have been bestowed the DSi LX in some contest of epic proportions…after we utilized it for all it was worth, of course. However, we are not bitter. I offer my congratulations to Zelda Universe. Other than them, we were the highest ranked Zelda site on the list, and this is out of almost 50 total entrant sites! I echo my former sentiments that this site has a great community. Speaking of community…

I owe some clarification on the previous post. The staff members who are no longer on staff did not offer resignations or leave purely on their own free will. Zelda, WithTheDawn, and Aegis were removed for various reasons that will not be delved into, and for the foreseeable future will not be rejoining our staff here. We thank them for their many contributions to this site in their tenures, and wish them the most success and happiness from here on. We are still seeking new staff members, and a few applications have already been sent in, so be sure to get yours in as soon as possible so that you don’t miss this opportunity to help out your favorite Legend of Zelda fansite! See you on the forums.

Nintendo has won around  two million dollars from recent legal proceedings in Australia, winning a suit against an online retailer for selling the R4 chip, and settling out of court with the man who leaked NSMBW onto the internet a week before it was due to be released. [read the full story]